Missives from Marco

Davis Turner / Getty

To: Maria Belen Chapur

From: Mark Sanford

Re: The South Carolina governor's admission of infidelity was remarkably candid, but the e-mails to his Argentine lover that surfaced the day after his mea-culpa presser verge on TMI. (One CNN anchor admitted on air that reading them made her blush.) Obtained by South Carolina's The State in December but not released until they could be authenticated, the 2008 e-mails are awash in salutations like "my love" and reminiscences about "magnificently gentle kisses," "erotic beauty," "tan lines" and "curves." The correspondence makes you think that if Bill Clinton had only spent more time waxing romantic to Monica Lewinsky, Sanford might not have voted to impeach him.

Excerpt:I have been specializing in staying focused on decisions and actions of the head for a long time now  and you have my heart. You have oh so many attributes that pulls it in this direction. Do you really comprehend how beautiful your smile is? Have you been told lately how warm your eyes are and how they softly glow with the special nature of your soul. I remember Jenny, or someone close to me, once commenting that while my mom was pleasant and warm it was sad she had never accomplished anything of significance. I replied that they were wrong because she had the ultimate of all gifts  and that was the ability to love unconditionally. The rarest of all commodities in this world is love.  Sanford